In the game room of Robby and Ruth Parks’ South Lake Charles home, the pool table is surrounded by vintage collectibles and signage. Robbie appreciated antiques even as a youngster. Today he is especially passionate about preserving local signage. The rescued Ed Taussig Lincoln Mercury Ford sign hangs over the game room sofa. A Charleston Hotel sign hangs next to a framed photo of his parents and their receipt from their first night as husband and wife spent at The Charleston. The total was $6.

Robby’s latest preservation project will require more room to display than the Parks have available. He has almost completed the restoration of the iconic 20-foot blue and white Arcade Theatre sign with marquee lights.

According to McNeese Archives, “The Arcade Theatre opened in Lake Charles on September 26, 1910, and it became an important fixture in the cultural life of Lake Charles.”

Some of the entertainers included Rudolph Ganz conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Isadora Duncan and the Great Houdini.

The Arcade also served as a silent motion picture house and made the transition to movies.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, destroyed by fire in 1985 and an Arcade Memorial Pavilion was dedicated in the area in 1991.

Robby and Ruth found out about the Arcade sign in 2010. They were visiting the McNeese archives and told Pati Threat about their interest in local signage. Threat remembered a 2004 American Press article and photos by Donna Price, “Signs of the Past.”

The story noted the sign that once graced the Arcade Theatre was in the grass beside the ACTS Theatre on Reid Street.

The group had gotten the sign when the theatre was torn down in hopes of restoring it, but the rewiring estimate was $15,000. The article also said the sign would be given to someone who had the means to restore it.

“We thought there’s no way it’s still back there,” Robby said. “As soon as we left, we went to the ACTS Theatre.

It was there, covered by weeds and tall grass. The light sockets were filled with dirt. Areas were rusted.

Robby recreated the sign with sheet metal, including punching holes for each marquee light. The sign will be fully operational.

“We started talking to the ACTS Board of Directors,” Robby said. “The plan was to refurbish the sign and hang it at the Rosa Hart Theater at the Civic Center after renovations were complete.”

Those renovations were recently completed. However, the idea was shelved when concern was voiced that displaying the large Arcade sign in the Rosa Hart Theatre might be confusing or overshadow the memory of Rosa Hart’s importance to the local arts scene.

The Parks think the Arcade sign is an important link to the history and needs a Lake Charles home.

“In my mind, it can’t leave the area,” Robby said.

The sign is not for sale, but the Parks are hoping it gets the right home.

Robby’s next quest is to rescue and preserve the old Panorama Burger Sign on Bilbo Street before this link to the past is gone forever.

Vintage signage is great for decorating and personalizing the places we call home, but vintage signage that helps preserve the memories of our vanishing past is even better.

The Parks said they weren’t optimistic this arcade sign would still be behind the ACTS building more than six years after an article in the American Press said it was. But they found it. (Special to the American Press)